Rep. Hanabusa To File Lawsuit To Delay Friday Senate Special Election

Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI) plans to file a lawsuit Wednesday to delay a special election on Friday in the two precincts of Hawaii’s Puna District that have been hit hard by Hurricane Iselle.

As a result of the hurricane, some voters in those two precincts were unable to vote in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate between Hanabusa and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI). Schatz has been leading by a slim 1,635 vote lead in the too-close-to-call primary contest but there are enough votes in the remaining two districts to, conceivably, flip the race in Hanabusa’s favor (even if the odds are slim).

“Fundamentally, what we are trying to preserve here is the people’s right to vote and making sure that people know that their vote counts,” Hanabusa said in an interview with Hawaii News Now.

Hanabusa’s lawsuit will ask the Hawaii Supreme Court for a restraining order that would delay the vote. The argument in the lawsuit is that the people in the district need more time to recover from the hurricane.

“People are definitely without water, definitely without electricity, and it’s going to be a while,” Hanabusa said.